Neatorama

---

• The Teddy Roosevelt-Inspired Roller Coaster That Killed 7 People at Coney Island
• An Honest Trailer for <i>The Rock</i>
• How to Make a Krispy Kreme Face Shield
• Cyber Ironman
• Float Away with a Forgotten Futurist’s Vision of Paris
• A Roller Coaster Synchronized to "Bohemian Rhapsody"
• Armor for a Rabbit
• This Koi Pond is a Cake
• The Cargo Mask
• Thinking About Time
• From The Sands To The Cosmos: The UAE’s Inspiring Six-Year Story
• Man Bites Seagull Over His McDonald’s Meal, Gets Arrested
• The Hagia Sophia Will Be A Mosque Soon
• In Search of The Solar System’s Ninth Planet
• The Hero Of Goodall Park

The Teddy Roosevelt-Inspired Roller Coaster That Killed 7 People at Coney Island Posted: 15 Jul 2020 02:05 AM PDT If a kid encountered a thrill ride called Rough Riders today, she'd probably think it was ride on a rough track. That wasn't why the roller coaster that debuted at Coney Island in 1907 was named that. It was a tribute to the current president, Theodore Roosevelt, who led the unit called the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. Beyond the creative theme, the ride also offered guests an exciting format. Unlike most other Coney Island coasters, which were propelled by gravity, this one ran on an electric third rail—much like a subway car. "Conductors" were assigned to each train, and they had control over how fast the cars moved over inclines and around curves. As it turned out, technology invented to safely transport the public wasn't the best fit for an amusement park. Because the cars had to be operated manually by park employees, there was no way to regulate how fast they went. Many operators pushed the ride vehicles to their limits; instead of slowing down on drops and sharp turns, they often went ahead at full speed. That sounds dangerous. Strangely, the ride survived for years, even after the first fatalities. Learn exactly how dangerous it was at Mental Floss. (Image credit: Brooklyn Museum)

An Honest Trailer for <i>The Rock</i> Posted: 15 Jul 2020 02:05 AM PDT The film The Rock was a big hit in summer of 1996. Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery (plus a whole crew of other 90s stars, but not The Rock) do something important at Alcatraz, and there's a lot of action. Screen Junkies gives us the lowdown on whether we should watch The Rock after missing it all those years ago. It's part of their Blockbuster Summer series, which is all they have this summer, so reaching into the vault for a good movie from back when is something we all can do.

How to Make a Krispy Kreme Face Shield Posted: 15 Jul 2020 02:05 AM PDT Step 2 involves eating a dozen donuts (well, in my version), because you'll need to empty the Krispy Kreme box of its contents. Andy Clockwise, though, is more straightforward and simply assumes that you have an empty Krispy Kreme box. Follow his simple instructions to make a sweet-smelling face shield. -via Swiss Miss

Cyber Ironman Posted: 15 Jul 2020 02:04 AM PDT View this post on Instagram Free comic book day was supposed to be this weekend . Sadly I don't get the chance to debut the repaint of my Cyberman. I am Cyberman Stark's ultimate upgrade. #ironcyberman #cyberman #ironman #drwho #marvel #foamsmith A post shared by Christopher Lavallee (@christopherlavallee) on May 1, 2020 at 4:52am PDT Cosplayer Christopher Lavallee, a less famous Tony Stark, built this combat suit inspired by the Doctor's cybernetic foes, the Cybermen. Lavallee properly calls himself a "foamsmith" due to his mastery of foam cutting and molding.

Float Away with a Forgotten Futurist’s Vision of Paris Posted: 15 Jul 2020 02:04 AM PDT We know Jules Verne, who gave us science fiction and, a century later, steampunk. But he wasn't the first to write about how technology would affect the future. Another was Albert Robida, who wrote in French, but just as wondrously, also drew his visions of the future. In the late 1800s, the French illustrator and novelist wrote an acclaimed trilogy of futuristic novels, most notably, The Twentieth Century, an important work of early science fiction often overshadowed by the work of Jules Verne, who is generally viewed as one of the creators of the genre of Science Fiction. Falling somewhere between The Jetsons and Charles Dickens, some of his fanciful predictions recall the overzealous futurism of the 1950s and 60s in response to the Space Age. Robida was of course living through his own "Space Age" of sorts at the end of the 19th century when the first aeronautical expeditions were just taking flight in France. Robida not only envisioned flying machines, tall skyscrapers, and video phones, but also a world of gender and racial equality. While his works are available online, they are in French. So you might want to read about Robida and see a collection of his futuristic illustrations at Messy Nessy Chic.

A Roller Coaster Synchronized to "Bohemian Rhapsody" Posted: 15 Jul 2020 02:04 AM PDT A roller coaster ride is usually about two minutes long. ChuggersRCT designed this one with Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 around the song "Bohemian Rhapsody," so it's six minutes of hills, dives, loops, wobbles, twists, and turns! It starts out slowly, but really switches into high gear as the song does. This would probably be fatal if it existed in the real world. -via Geekologie

Armor for a Rabbit Posted: 14 Jul 2020 11:37 PM PDT Why leather armor for a rabbit? Well, a rabbit's key ability is dexterity. Although mail and plate armor may raise a rabbit's armor class, it can also induce a dexterity penalty and cause encumbrance problems if your dungeon master is a stickler for those rules. So it's best to keep to leather armor or magical armor options for when you must take your rabbit adventuring. Etsy seller The King's Shilling can properly equip you and your furry pal. -via Technabob

This Koi Pond is a Cake Posted: 14 Jul 2020 08:18 PM PDT Believe it or not, everything in this koi pond sculpture is edible. Well, the cattail stems are bamboo, but those are technically edible if you chew them enough. Cake artist petrichoro used agar jelly for the water, three types of cake underneath, and sculpted the fish and lilies by hand! See more of her creations at Instagram. -via Laughing Squid

The Cargo Mask Posted: 14 Jul 2020 06:51 PM PDT Cargo mask pic.twitter.com/kkqzfXYJIh — Ingenuous Firebrand (@ING2Firebrand) July 14, 2020 Don't think of your face mask as a burden. It's an opportunity! Twitter user Ingenuous Firebrand proposes sewing on a pocket and using the mask for more everyday carry gear. I suggest making the mask from heavy canvas to make sure that it doesn't sag too much from the extra weight you store in the pocket. -via Aelfred the Great

Thinking About Time Posted: 14 Jul 2020 11:54 AM PDT Quantum mechanics and Einstein's relativity. Both are pillars of 20th-century physics, and, as pillars go, these scientific fields stand opposite of each other, at least when it comes to the concept of time. When derived from quantum mechanics, time is a parameter that is ever-flowing at a constant rate. When derived from relativity, however, time can be seen as something relative from two observers. So what really is time? "We don't know," Martin Bojowald, a physicist at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, told Live Science. "We know that things change, and we describe that change in terms of time." But it seems that we're now closer to reconciling the conflicting concepts of time through this new theory of a universal clock. More details about this over at Live Science. (Image Credit: FelixMittermeier/ Pixabay)

From The Sands To The Cosmos: The UAE’s Inspiring Six-Year Story Posted: 14 Jul 2020 11:54 AM PDT It was 2014, and the United Arab Emirates announced that it would be launching a mission to Mars by December 2021, the country's 50th birthday (the United Arab Emirates was founded on December 2, 1971). They had several challenges to overcome before achieving that dream, however, as the country had no space agency or planetary scientists, and it only just launched its first satellite at that time. With only less than a decade as its time limit, and with odds stacked against it like that, one would wonder whether the country could really accomplish their goal. The rapidly assembled team of engineers, with an average age of 27, frequently heard the same jibe. "You guys are a bunch of kids. How are you going to reach Mars?" says Sarah Al Amiri, originally a computer engineer and the science lead for the project. But they prevailed. Six years on, Al Amiri beamed as she admired the country's fully assembled Mars orbiter while it underwent tests in February. In the bright, clean room at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai, engineers were testing the car-sized orbiter before shipping it to the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. It will launch sometime during a three-week window starting on 15 July. The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) will be the first interplanetary venture of any Arab nation, but it's not just a technology demonstrator. Once it arrives at the red planet in February 2021, the orbiter, known as Hope (or Amal in Arabic), will produce the first global map of the Martian atmosphere. And, somewhat unusually for a space mission, the EMM will release its data to the international scientific community without an embargo. But the battle's not over yet, as going to space is not the UAE's main concern, but rather, its economy. But for spectators, the UAE's future is bright. More about this over at Scientific American. What are your thoughts about this one? (Image Credit: Natalie Naccache for Nature/ Scientific American)

Man Bites Seagull Over His McDonald’s Meal, Gets Arrested Posted: 14 Jul 2020 09:50 AM PDT Police stationed at Plymouth, UK, were shocked when they saw a man sinking his teeth into a seagull before throwing the bird on the floor. According to the man, the seagull attacked him because it took a taste of his McDonald's meal, and so he grabbed and bit it . The police immediately rushed into the scene and detained the man. Around this time, the man volunteered the information that he was under the influence of drugs and it was decided that he should be taken to Derriford Hospital for treatment. The seagull was clearly injured by the incident but flew off before we were able to check on its welfare. We don't know what happened to it afterwards. Because seagulls are protected by UK laws, the man, if found guilty, could face six months in jail or a fine of £5000 (around $6300). Via 9GAG (Image Credit: JJ Harrison/ Wikimedia Commons)

The Hagia Sophia Will Be A Mosque Soon Posted: 14 Jul 2020 09:45 AM PDT After 85 years as a museum (since 1934), the Hagia Sophia will turn into a mosque on July 24, as Turkey's Cabinet of State repealed the order that turned the building into a museum. With this being the case, some are curious as to what Hagia Sophia's future will be. The Turkish government has stated that, although Muslim religious services will resume at the site, it will remain open to visitors of all nationalities and faiths—much like the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which has been an active Catholic church as well as a major tourist attraction and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Erdogan's spokespeople have also stated that Christian iconography inside the Hagia Sophia will continue to be preserved as it has been since the 1930s. Some say that this was done in order to make a political statement, and this political move could be compared as to how the building was treated in the past: a place of power. Know more about the intriguing history of the Hagia Sophia over at Ars Technica. What are your thoughts about this one? (Image Credit: Arild Vågen/ Wikimedia Commons)

In Search of The Solar System’s Ninth Planet Posted: 14 Jul 2020 09:40 AM PDT When Pluto was downgraded to a "dwarf planet" in 2006, the number of officially known planets in our Solar System decreased from nine to eight. But astronomers have been seeing strange gravitational patterns beyond the planet Neptune. Dubbed as "trans-Neptunian objects", or TNOs, these objects suggest that there is a ninth planet in our Solar System. Various theories about these TNOs have been offered. The hypothetical planet, dubbed "Planet Nine," would orbit our star at hundreds of times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. It's been a contentious topic, with some writing off the odd behavior of TNOs as being caused by a cluster of much smaller space rocks. Others predict that such a planet would be five times the mass of the Earth, orbiting our star at about 400 times the Earth's distance from the Sun. Finally, there's the possibility that Planet Nine is actually a teeny-tiny black hole left over from the Big Bang. So tiny, in fact, that it'd only measure about five centimeters across — basically impossible to see with any kind of telescope. "There has been a great deal of speculation concerning alternative explanations for the anomalous orbits observed in the outer solar system," explained Amir Siraj, a Harvard undergraduate student, in a statement. "One of the ideas put forth was the possibility that Planet Nine could be a grapefruit-sized black hole with a mass of five to 10 times that of the Earth." But if the so-called "ninth planet" is not really a planet, but a very tiny black hole, then how would astronomers confirm its existence? Learn more about this intriguing story over at Futurism. (Image Credit: Comfreak/ Pixabay)

The Hero Of Goodall Park Posted: 14 Jul 2020 06:50 AM PDT An odd incident that occured in Sanford, Maine, started a true-crime mystery. A car went onto a baseball field during a game in 2018. This odd incident was the start of a true-crime mystery that was 50 years in the making. ESPN Senior Writer Tom Junod writes the details surrounding the mystery. Check the full piece here. image screenshot via ESPN

You are subscribed to email updates from Neatorama. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States

URGENT: Share your thoughts on Governor Newsom's latest business closure order

Click here to open this e-mail in its own browser window Click here to open a plain text version of this email Biography District Info Services Legislation News Center Contact Today Governor Newsom ordered that the following businesses in 31 California counties – including Fresno County and Tulare County – must immediately close their doors: gyms, hair salons, barbershops, nail salons, other personal care services, indoor malls, offices in non-critical sectors, and churches. Additionally, the Governor ordered that all counties throughout the state must close indoor operations at restaurants, wineries, tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos, museums, and cardrooms, all of which were previously ordered to close in Fresno County and Tulare County. Do you support Governor Newsom's latest order? Yes No   Which statement best describes your thoughts on Governor Newsom's order? Governor Newsom's order will produce a negative economic impact that outweighs any potential public health benefit. Governor Newsom's order will produce a negative economic impact but is justified to protect the public health. Governor Newsom's order offers no public health benefit and will harm local economies.   Click to open in a separate window Please note that by participating in this survey, you will be registered to receive my e-newsletter that shares what I'm working on in Congress and at home in California. If you do not wish to receive future surveys, please click here. I hope you will reach out with any questions or concerns about current events and issues. Please feel free to email me at any time by clicking here. WASHINGTON, DC Longworth House Office Building Suite 1013 Washington, DC 20515 Main: (202) 225-2523 Fax: (202) 225-3404 VISALIA 113 North Church Street Suite 208 Visalia, CA 93291 Main: (559) 733-3861 Fax: (559) 733-3865 CLOVIS 264 Clovis Avenue Suite 206 Clovis, CA 93612 Main: (559) 323-5235 Fax: (559) 323-5528

Neatorama

---

• 82-year-old Maps Entire Community from Driveway During Quarantine
• Photographer Places the Descendants of Famous People into Their Portraits
• The Dr. Strange of the American Revolution
• Malfunctioning Speed Camera Tracks a Ford Focus at 437 MPH
• This Month, Three Countries Are Heading Off to Mars
• Two Cats and 500 Balls
• Common in Movies, Never in Real Life
• Jack Daniel's Whiskey Fountain
• Falling in Love Again with the Haunting Sounds of Interwar Polish Tango

82-year-old Maps Entire Community from Driveway During Quarantine Posted: 11 Jul 2020 11:51 PM PDT While most people restlessly sheltered in place this summer, one senior citizen found a way to self-isolate and earn himself $1,000 by mapping his entire neighborhood with his new DJI drone. Bill Cook from Winchester, Virginia, flew around 50 flights, most of which were from the safety of his driveway. Check out the full story.

Photographer Places the Descendants of Famous People into Their Portraits Posted: 11 Jul 2020 11:51 PM PDT Irina Guicciardini Strozzi is the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of Lisa de Giocondo, the original model for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Here, photographer Drew Gardner has photographed her posed and framed like her famous ancestor. This is part of Gardner's project titled The Descendants. It shows the descendants of famous people in the style and costume of iconic portraits of their ancestors. Gardner's subjects include the descendants of Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, Horatio Nelson, Oliver Cromwell, and Napoleon Bonaparte. You can read more about Gardner's project at Colossal.

The Dr. Strange of the American Revolution Posted: 11 Jul 2020 11:51 PM PDT Dr. Benjamin Rush was an intellectual who influenced George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Paine, among others. He was one of the youngest men to sign the Declaration of Independence, and became the young country's most famous doctor afterward. Rush was an advocate for many social causes, including humane treatment of the mentally ill. Rush was a founder of American psychiatry. As a scientist, he was fascinated by mental illness; as a doctor, he was horrified by its treatment. Where most saw the workings of God or demons in the manners of the mentally ill, Rush saw malfunctioning parts. It was no sin to be deranged. The mentally afflicted deserved sympathy and sophisticated care. They had "diseases of the brain," he said, not character flaws of failures of will. Rush was a pioneer in removing psychiatric patients from prison conditions. He unchained them, gave them proper lighting, and had them exercise in the hospital gardens. While he was a brilliant thinker, he wasn't right about everything. Read about Rush and his views on all sorts of subjects at Nautilus. -via Strange Company

Malfunctioning Speed Camera Tracks a Ford Focus at 437 MPH Posted: 11 Jul 2020 11:51 PM PDT A speed camera in Italy awarded a driver with a $960 prize for taking her Ford Focus up to 437 miles per hour, or approximately 10 times the maximum speed of that vehicle. Alas, she was to be disappointed, as it was a computer glitch which caused the reading. Fox News reports: The Autoappassionati report said local police failed to double-check the camera's findings before mailing the woman a ticket – which placed 10 points on her license and carried a fine of 850 euros, or just under $1,000. Giovanni Strologo, a transportation spokesman for the community of Offagna, in Ancona province, where the incident happened, advised the driver to appeal to the local government for compensation, according to the report. In a Facebook post, he noted that police should have checked the details before sending the driver a ticket and joked that "even with a missile" the car could not possibly reach speeds that high. -via Dave Barry | Unrelated photo: TuRbO_J

This Month, Three Countries Are Heading Off to Mars Posted: 11 Jul 2020 11:51 PM PDT If one wants to go to Mars, there is a launch window that comes around every two years or so when the planets align in a manner that makes the trip to the red planet a lot easier. NASA takes advantage of that launch window every time it comes around, as in this moth. China and the United Arab Emirates are scheduled to also send missions to Mars in July. The planned European-Russian Exomars mission was scrapped, but three missions are still a go as of now. NASA is out in front with an audacious plan to send a lander to Mars and then bring it back with samples of the planet! In 2011, when U.S. planetary scientists were asked what big-ticket projects should receive federal funding over the next decade, a Mars sample-return mission came out as their top choice. Actually, they needed two missions. The first would collect rocks and soil and cache them on Mars, and the second would retrieve the samples at some later date and return them to Earth where they could be studied in far more detail than they could be on Mars. NASA's Perseverance rover constitutes Part One of that plan. Now scheduled for a July 17 launch from Cape Canaveral [Update: Launch is now planned for no earlier than July 30], it's the most advanced Mars mission yet. Having established from past investigations that Mars was once a habitable place, scientists now want to know if the planet was, in fact, ever inhabited. That's a more difficult question, as there currently are no definitive "biosignatures" for identifying life, short of spotting a kangaroo bounding across the Martian surface. More likely, a tentative answer will come from multiple lines of evidence showing that a particular rock's chemistry and physical characteristics probably resulted from biology. Perseverance's job is to find the rocks that look most promising for containing that fossil evidence. Read about all three Mars missions launching this summer at Air&Space magazine.  (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Two Cats and 500 Balls Posted: 11 Jul 2020 08:27 PM PDT YouTuber walter santi (previously at Neatorama) surprised his two cats with a ball pits and 500 plastic balls! Santi and Indy had a ball, so to speak, playing in it. However, Indy kept losing his favorite ball amongst all the new ones. -via Metafilter

Common in Movies, Never in Real Life Posted: 11 Jul 2020 08:26 PM PDT Being able to outrun an explosion. You know how you have to be somewhere at a certain time, and you leave early, but then use up all your spare time and more looking for a parking space? Somehow, people in movies manage to always have a parking space waiting for them right in front of their destination, even in cities, even in Manhattan. It's movie logic. While some shortcuts are forgivable (no one wants to watch someone looking for a parking space), other just bend reality for a good visual, like walking or running away from an explosion. Waking up from a long coma and being able to walk... People who've had similar real-life experiences can be thoroughly distracted from a movie plot when something is just so wrong. Read a list of 40 things people have noticed in movies that just don't work that way in real life at Bored Panda.

Jack Daniel's Whiskey Fountain Posted: 11 Jul 2020 03:38 PM PDT ViralHog introduces us to one gentlemen's beautiful quarantine crafting project: a completely functional and smooth-sipping fountain made of whiskey bottles. He writes: In the video, I am videoing a Jack Daniels waterfall feature that I made from scratch with everything recycled apart from the pump inside! It's amazing what you can do when stuck in lockdown. It's beautiful and, when fully filled, helpful at parties. -via Born in Space

Falling in Love Again with the Haunting Sounds of Interwar Polish Tango Posted: 11 Jul 2020 02:26 PM PDT Journalist Juliette Bretan is not musically-inclined, but as she was researching her roots, particularly the lives of her Eastern European grandparents, she was captured by the sounds of an obscure musical genre. Interwar Polish tango combined Argentine tango, Jewish klezmer, and Polish folk music to produce sad, sentimental, and strangely patriotic songs. The heyday of Polish tango was 1918 to 1939, so it was both birthed and killed by war. You can hear some examples here, here, and here.    Bretan fell hard for Polish tango, which, in an article for culture.pl, she described as "merging pinches of the age-old Polish romantic and sentimental melodies with Jewish inflections and a more modern, brassy sound, dripping in glissandos and vibrato." The Jewishness of Polish tango is essential to understanding the source of these sounds, which means it's important for those of us in 2020 to understand what it must have been like to be Jewish in Poland during the interwar years. Briefly put, it was no picnic, in particular because of the overt antisemitism of the popular National Democratic Party, which organized successful boycotts against Jewish-owned businesses. For the fascists and racists who waved the banner of the NDP, antisemitism was nothing less than a prerequisite to Polish patriotism. Even so, being a Jewish composer, musician, or performer in Warsaw, whose population between the wars was roughly one-third Jewish, offered Jews a rare measure of personal and professional freedom. That's because many interwar Poles, whose country's borders had been erased from maps by Russia, Germany, and Austria in the late 18th century, were ready to celebrate their nation's newfound independence. Thus, for large swaths of the Polish population, especially those in Warsaw, Jewish composers, musicians, and performers were tolerated, and even welcomed, to the extent, that is, that they were entertaining. Read about the rise and fall of the unique interwar Polish tango at Collectors Weekly.

You are subscribed to email updates from Neatorama. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States

Neatorama

---

• Can An Ancient Greek Armor Protect You From A Bullet?
• Making a Great Movie Boring
• 1,000-year-old Pet Cat Found on the Silk Road
• When Idealistic New Englanders Moved to Kansas Territory to ‘Put an End to Slavery’
• This AI App Evaluates Tuna Cuts
• What Is This Bride Doing?
• Screening Applicants Using Social Media
• How Prosperity Transformed the Falklands
• Dog Comforts Cats Who Lost Their Mother
• EXP TV: 24-hour Weirdness
• SNES X PS1 Hybrid, Anyone?
• Do You Know Which Video Game Platform Is Right For You?
• What’s The Worst Place In New York?
• Are Gamers Ready To Face Unsatisfying Endings?
• Someone Copied The Legend of Zelda

Can An Ancient Greek Armor Protect You From A Bullet? Posted: 10 Jul 2020 02:31 PM PDT To protect their soldiers from getting wounded by the weapons used in their time, the Ancient Greeks during the time of Alexander the Great developed this suit of armor made out of layers of linen glued together by animal fat. The said armor is capable of deflecting arrows. It can also reduce the impact of sword blows on the wearer's body. But how does this ancient technology fare against modern weapons, such as new arrows and guns? You might be surprised at how comparable this armor is to a light kevlar, when it (the armor) is 5 times thicker. It doesn't fare well against fire, however, as it is flammable because of the animal fat. Via The Awesomer (Image Credit: How To Make Everything/ YouTube)

Making a Great Movie Boring Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:11 PM PDT A cat lady takes a long nap after cleaning her transport rig of vermin. pic.twitter.com/jYsa8IQItG — Robert Cantangus (@cantangus) July 4, 2020 Twitter user Romina asked people to give a short description of a movie and make it sound boring. Movie buffs jumped on the assignment. The best of them are 1. boring, and 2. make it obvious what movie they are referring to, at least to people who watch movies. The reply above didn't really need a picture. Visitors do not respect the guest list at a Christmas party in an LA office building, and one executive's husband is not happy about it. — Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) July 3, 2020 See a lengthy collection of the best replies at Bored Panda. See hundreds more at the Twitter thread.

1,000-year-old Pet Cat Found on the Silk Road Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:11 PM PDT Life is not easy for solitary cats, no matter what era they live in. Any illness or injury, as well as malnutrition, can mean death. So it was a surprise for a team of archaeologists to find an almost-complete skeleton of a cat at a 8th-century settlement in southern Kazakhstan. The intact skeleton means it had been buried, as if someone had cared for it, which was an exceedingly rare find. Dr. Ashleigh Haruda explains more.   Haruda worked with an international team of archeologists and ancient DNA specialists. An examination of the tomcat's skeleton revealed astonishing details about its life. First, the team took 3-D images and X-rays of its bones. "This cat suffered a number of fractures, but survived," says Haruda. Isotope analyses of bone samples also provided the team with information about the cat's diet. Compared to the dogs found during the excavation and to other cats from that time period, this tomcat's diet was very high in protein. "It must have been fed by humans, since the animal had lost almost all its teeth toward the end of its life." Read more about this discovery at PhysOrg. -via Strange Company (Image credit:  Ashleigh Haruda/MLU)

When Idealistic New Englanders Moved to Kansas Territory to ‘Put an End to Slavery’ Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:10 PM PDT In the 1850s, political forces were splitting the US in the lead to the Civil War. Abolitionists were campaigning against slavery, people were reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, and women were organizing for the right to vote. Meanwhile, the federal government was trying to deal with the vast expanses of land that the US owned, but had yet to control. It was in this divided atmosphere that the May 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act opened the Kansas and Nebraska territories to settlement and eventual statehood. The assumption was that Nebraska Territory would become a free state, while Kansas, under the sway of its pro-slavery neighbor Missouri, would become a slave state. The Act infuriated Northerners because it undid the Missouri Compromise of 1830 and allowed for the expansion of slavery.   But the assumptions of the Act were disrupted by the social movements and civil rights discussions occurring in New England. An organization called the New England Emigrant Aid Company hatched a bold plan to transport New England settlers to the open hills and plains of Kansas Territory in 1854 and 1855, for the purpose of voting for Kansas to become an anti-slavery "free state." In line with the ideals of the American Renaissance in New England, the principal founder of the Company, Eli Thayer, wrote that its goal was "to go and put an end to slavery." Thayer wanted to establish as many New Englanders as possible in Kansas before the Kansas-Nebraska Act was signed a year after its passage. It wasn't easy, as travel was arduous, and passing through pro-slavery Missouri was downright dangerous. Read about the Yankee emigrants who settled Kansas at Zocalo Public Square. -via Damn Interesting (Image credit: Library of Congress)

This AI App Evaluates Tuna Cuts Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:10 PM PDT When it comes to eating sushi, a fatty tuna is what makes the experience great. Because of this, fish buyers dedicate at least a decade of their life trying to learn how to determine which tuna cut is fatty and which isn't. But if you don't have the time to train yourself in tuna examining, then this app called Tuna Scope, developed by Dentsu Inc., might help. The firm trained the machine learning algorithm that powers the software using thousands of images of tuna tail cross-sections. The cut can tell human buyers a lot about the quality of fish they're about to purchase. In testing against human experts, Dentsu claims it found the app gave the same grade more than four out of five times. The app is currently in use by one company, conveyor belt sushi chain Kura Sushi. The restaurant buys the majority of its tuna outside of Japan. Part of the reason the company started using the app is that it allows its employees to grade tuna without traveling. That's a significant perk during the current pandemic. Moreover, conveyor belt restaurants in Japan tend to offer the least expensive sushi, so there's a cost-saving aspect at play as well. Traditionalists, however, are skeptical of the app. But for the average man, this app would certainly be useful. What are your thoughts about this one? (Image Credit: Dentsu/ Engadget)

What Is This Bride Doing? Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:10 PM PDT The bride can be seen to be talking with someone on her phone, while her laptop sits on her lap. A few seconds later, the groom appears on camera and sits besides her. It appears that he is also interested in what makes his bride occupied during the wedding. The video, however, does not reveal what she is doing, and this prompted many Twitter users to theorize what's really happening. What are your thoughts about this one? (Image Credit: Dinesh Joshi/ Twitter) That's a good idea to ignore the relatives fake hugs and smile 🤣🤣 — Kawaii_Myra (@myra_kawaii) July 3, 2020

Screening Applicants Using Social Media Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:10 PM PDT Creating a good resumé might no longer be enough when applying for jobs, as companies no longer just look at a person's resumé — they also look at a person's social media activity, a process known as cybervetting. These were readily available information in the form of raw data and metadata, meaning what they had posted, when and how; analytics information that would require processing, for example, results of sentiment analysis or topic modeling of an applicants' posts; and information related to users' online social network that is often used for social network analysis, for example who follows whom on social media. The question is, are people okay with this method? It turns out, the responses are mixed. Some are worried, while some are not. More details about this over at TechXplore. What are your thoughts about this one? (Image Credit: Pixabay)

How Prosperity Transformed the Falklands Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:10 PM PDT What do you know about the Falkland Islands? The British territory off the coast of Argentina was difficult to cultivate, and was only good for raising sheep. It was so far away from Britain that only people with little other choice went there, and they lived an almost-medieval existence. Then in 1982, the world learned of the Falkland Islands when Argentina invaded, ostensibly to "liberate" the islands. The war made the islands' declining economy worse, but it made the British pay attention to them.   After the war, the wretched condition of the Falklands attracted international attention, and Britain allotted the islands more aid money than it ever had before. It passed a nationality bill that granted Falkland Islanders full British citizenship, and it gave the islands independence in all matters except foreign policy and defense. The islands would be run not by the governor but by their legislative council; this would consist of eight elected members, though there would be no political parties—there was no need, since most people had known one another all their lives. There was already a local court, and since it was difficult to assemble a jury in which no one was related to the defendant, the bailiff was empowered to step outside and collar more potential jurors literally off the street. But the turning point that changed everything was Britain's decision, in 1986, to permit the Falklands to claim fishing rights to the waters for a hundred and fifty miles offshore, which it had not allowed before for fear of antagonizing Argentina. The prosperity that resulted from fishing led to prosperity from tourism, and new immigrants came to settle in the Falklands. Read a short but fascinating history of the Falkland Islands at The New Yorker. -via Metafilter (Image credit: amanderson2)

Dog Comforts Cats Who Lost Their Mother Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:10 PM PDT Losing parents at such a young age just might be the most devastating and the most emotionally painful experience one can have in this life. It would be really difficult to live life knowing that those who cared the most for you are already gone. Thankfully, there are those who would try to comfort you and make your life less painful. A miniature golden retriever named Poppie, who lives in Colorado with her cat fostering humans, gently comforted an orphaned litter of kittens who needed reassurance after their mother died. Poppie lovingly rubbed her nose against the little ones who came up to her and even gave one kitten a cleaning much in the way a mother cat would do. Neither the kittens nor Poppie like being separated from one another for too long. Now that's love right there. Via Laughing Squid (Image Credit: poppieseedmuffin/ Instagram)

EXP TV: 24-hour Weirdness Posted: 10 Jul 2020 01:09 PM PDT If you've watched every movie on Netflix and are tired of binge-watching ancient TV shows, there is a new alternative. EXP TV is an internet channel that streams obscure content 24/7. It's sort of a combination of Adult Swim and Everything is Terrible, as if you've taken a leap into the rabbit hole of YouTube. The daytime programming is called Video Breaks, while the nighttime fare is called Night Owl. What treasures would reward the loyal Video Breaks viewer?  Ventriloquist dummy sales demos, Filipino Pinocchios, LSD trip-induced talking hot dogs, Liberace's recipe tips, French synth punk, primal scream therapy seminars, Deadhead parking lots, empty parking lots, Israeli sci-fi, scary animatronics, teenage girls' homemade art films, Belgian hard techno dance instructions, Czech children's films about UFOs, even Danzig reading from his book collection. And that's all in just one hour! We've been collecting obscure media for decades, but we've sorted through it all and cherry-picked the funny, the bizarre, the relevant, the irrelevant, the visually stunning, the interesting, the infamous, the good, the bad and the fugly.  We've done all that so the viewers don't have to.  They get to kick back and experience the sweet spot without having to dig for rare stuff themselves or sit through an entire movie waiting for the cool part. EXP TV is not video on demand; you cannot select what to watch, it just streams like an old-fashioned TV channel. But there is a guide so you can plan your day around it. Dangerous Minds interviewed EXP TV founders Tom Fitzgerald, Marcus Herring, and Taylor C. Rowley to give us an overview of EXP TV so you will know what to expect. Oh yeah, it's free.

SNES X PS1 Hybrid, Anyone? Posted: 10 Jul 2020 11:58 AM PDT The infamous "Nintendo PlayStation" is one of unreleased consoles that a lot of people would pay heaps of money for should it be released. Since releasing that console is quite impossible, one person was able to build a unit composed of the SNES' Satellaview attachment and some components of a PlayStation 1, as Kotaku details:  something from the same era that's even rarer is Nintendo's repeated efforts to create a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES, which ultimately came to nothing That add-on was supposed to clip underneath an existing SNES console, just like Sega went and did with its Genesis/Mega CD combo, and while we still haven't found one (if any prototypes ever existed in the first place), LASTFANTASY (via Attract Mode) has gone and built a pretty good likeness of one using a SNES, its Satellaview attachment and the guts of a PlayStation 1. image via Kotaku

Do You Know Which Video Game Platform Is Right For You? Posted: 10 Jul 2020 11:58 AM PDT So maybe you're interested in spending your free time playing games. However there are a lot of consoles out there on the market, each offering different games. So what would be a good first gaming console to invest in? IGN lists the details and specs of each available game console on the market. Check out the full article here.  image via IGN

What’s The Worst Place In New York? Posted: 10 Jul 2020 11:58 AM PDT Twitter users have been labeling Penn Station as the worst place in New York City. Some called it their "hell on earth," even. Penn Station is a transit hub that sits below Madison Square Garden, and it has major dungeon vibes, as Time Out details:  For the uninitiated (if you've somehow managed to dodge Penn Station in your time as a New Yorker), the transit hub, which sits just below Madison Square Garden, is home to three different railroads: Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and Long Island Rail Road. With the entirety of the structure's above ground portion demolished in 1963 to make way for Madison Square Garden, it's pretty much devoid of sunlight. Garishly lit with low-ceilings and pigeons hanging out overhead, some would say it has major dungeon vibes.  During the daily rush hour, confusing signs have tourists walking in circles, seasoned commuters shove and shoulder each other as their assigned train tracks appear on the big board. Hundreds race down cramped stairs to tunnels even further underground. image via Time Out

Are Gamers Ready To Face Unsatisfying Endings? Posted: 10 Jul 2020 11:58 AM PDT One of the reviews on The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild is that its ending was a bit too anticlimactic and lacking. That point seems understandable, as players spent one hundred plus hours pouring their heart and soul into exploring the vast land of Hyrule, unlocking every story-related quest, and defeating all the required bosses to clear the game only to get a short cutscene for an ending. The trend of gamers being unsatisfied with endings seems to carry over to The Last Of Us 2. The game's ending has left a lot of gamers disappointed:  I am perplexed. To me, this seems like the only way TLOU2 could have ended well. Yet, the census from the masses is that the game teases you with a climactic ending, only to fizzle out with a sad, pathetic fight. Which, yes, it does exactly that, yet it's so fitting – a pathetic scrap between two people worn down to their cores, by years of vainly seeking to heal their trauma. This is a beautifully fitting ending to a cautionary tale of revenge, but many say they would have preferred it if Ellie got her revenge. As if the game hasn't spent hours showing you that Abby gained nothing from enacting hers. This is saddening because, like Firewatch, this ending is designed to make the player reflect. I know I, like Ellie, wanted Abby's head on a pike for most of the story – Especially since the game, despite its best efforts, does a pretty poor job of making me care for Abby – but the ending gave me reason to pause and think. Was it ever really worth all this effort? image via Medium

Someone Copied The Legend of Zelda Posted: 10 Jul 2020 11:57 AM PDT There's a game titled Final Sword in Nintendo eShop that looks oddly familiar: it looks like the Legend of Zelda. But it doesn't just look like the latter; it even sounds like it! Perhaps the only differences of Final Sword are the frustrating game bugs, as well as the bad choice of sound that its developers used when the player falls to his death, as well as the ugly music on the "game over" screen. There's plenty of Dark Souls in the main character's animation, and a boss fight with a dragon shows the creature posing just like its counterparts in Skyrim as it breathes a blast of fire. Several Japanese gamers have noted similarities to Monster Hunter as well. But perhaps the game Final Sword is most blatantly, oh, let's call it "taking inspiration" from for the look of its menus and outdoor environments, is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Heck, even the game's covers look incredibly alike… [...] But what's really gotten Final Sword in trouble isn't how much it looks like Zelda, but how it sounds like the beloved Nintendo franchise. Not long after its release earlier this month, players started noticing something very familiar about a certain piece of background music in Final Sword… And so it got pulled from Nintendo's eShop. More details about this story over at SoraNews24. (Image Credit: blizdliz/ Twitter)

You are subscribed to email updates from Neatorama. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States